1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk cleaner/scourer/polisher device for removing a scratch, stain or the like on a surface of a recording disk such as an optical disk or a magnetooptical disk. More particularly, it relates to a device comprising a scouring member, such as a buff, which is pressed against a side of the disk and rotated, with the disk being rotated also thereby to scour the side of the disk.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, disks such as a laser disk, a compact disk (CD), and a CD-ROM have been widely used as information recording media for acoustic, video and audio-visual applications, with computers and the like. In such a disk, if its surface, in particular its recording surface is scratched, stained or otherwise undesirably affected, its appearance is impaired and pieces of information recorded in that area are unlikely to be read out and reproduced correctly.
To cope therewith, scratches, stains and the like have heretofore been removed manually using a cloth or the like. However, such manual operation is laborious and time-consuming and has a drawback in that scratches, stains or the like may not be removed satisfactorily. In particular, in a secondhand CD shop, CD-rental agency, library or the like which has a large number of disks which are lent or rented out frequently, much labour is unavoidable in removing scratches, stains or the like from disks. Accordingly, it is strongly desired instead to remove scratches, stains or the like mechanically and automatically.
To meet such demand, a disk cleaner has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.122038/1995. The cleaner comprises a cylindrical scouring member, such as a buff, that is circumferentially pressed against a side (recorded side) of a disk to be scoured and is rotated with the disk being rotated also thereby to scour the side of the disk.
However, the proposed disk cleaner has the following drawbacks:
(1) In the proposed disk cleaner, the scouring member is pressed against a side of a disk with its rotational axis in parallel with the side of the disk during scouring. As any portion of the scouring member is necessarily pressed against a portion of the disk which is counter thereto, a distal end portion of the scouring member is pressed against a radially inner portion of the disk, and a proximal end portion of the scouring member is pressed against a radially outer portion of the disk. So, if the cylindricality of the scouring member and the parallelism thereof with the side of the disk being scoured are not precisely maintained, undulations and the like are likely to result in the surface of the disk. PA1 (2) For scouring a disk, it is desired to provide a disk cleaner with both a scouring member for abrasion (for removal of a scratch) and a scouring member for polishing (for lubrication, for finishing). In the proposed disk cleaner, however, only one scouring member can be pressed against the disk. Accordingly, there is a disadvantage in that replacement is frequently required between the scouring member for scratch removal and the scouring member for polishing. PA1 (3) In the proposed disk cleaner, pressing force of the scouring member on the disk cannot be adjusted. As the scouring members become worn or deformed by the scouring operation, a required pressing force of the scouring member may not be maintained without adjustment. As a result, a scratch or stain may not be satisfactorily removed. PA1 (4) The proposed disk cleaner is awkward in use in that for placement or removal of a disk or for replacement of the scouring member, it is necessary to pivot a disk supporting arm together with a driving motor parallel to the disk. PA1 (5) In the proposed disk cleaner, although it is required as described above, precisely to maintain the cylindricality of the scouring member and the parallelism thereof with the side being scoured, no effective means are included to meet this requirement. Accordingly, pressing force of the scouring member against the disk is not uniform across the interface therebetween. This prevents the disk from being evenly scoured.